# Recommend me some sad songs, with lyrics. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 6, 2006, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-sad-songs-with-lyrics/355629 "2006-05-06T01:26:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-sad-songs-with-lyrics/355629/61 "2006-05-08T15:21:39Z")
Oh my gosh, I feel so down after paging through this thread. ☹ Anything by Stan Rogers, because of his untimely death and rich somber voice, especially the live version of “Down the Road” since it was about him seeing you next time he’s around, and he died a few days later. His **Last Watch** about a man who has been forced to retire after years of working with ships: They dragged her down, dead, from Tobermory, Too cheap to spare her one last head of steam, Deep in diesel fumes embraced, Rust and soot upon the face of one who was so clean. They brought me here to watch her in the boneyard, Just two old wrecks to spend the night alone. … And Marianne Faithfull’s **Ballad of Lucy Jordan** from the Thelma & Louise soundtrack, about a woman who goes nuts in her traditional housewife role: At the age of thirty-seven she realised she’d never Ride through Paris in a sports car with the warm wind in her hair. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-sad-songs-with-lyrics/355629/62 "2006-05-08T15:31:27Z")
[QUOTE=Civil Guy] Harry Chapin wrote a lot of sad songs, most famously “The Cat’s in The Cradle”, but also “I Am The Morning Deejay (for W-O.L.D.)” and others. [/QUOTE] Flowers Are Red: ☹ And she said… Flowers are red young man Green leaves are green There’s no need to see flowers any other way Than they way they always have been seen … > [@Gary T](#): > > My first thought was “The Band Played Waltzing Matilda.” Perhaps the saddest song I know. Note that is was written and first performed by Eric Bogle, and has been recorded by many fine artists, not just the Pogues. Joan Baez has a good version on her live “Ring Them Bells”. Apparently Bogle also wrote “William McBride”: Well, how do you do, Private William McBride, Do you mind if I sit down here by your graveside? ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-sad-songs-with-lyrics/355629/63 "2006-05-08T15:38:09Z")
I thought of another couple, both by Loreena McKennitt: [Skellig](http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=3530822107858503339) … Beneath these jasmine flowers Amidst these cypress trees I give you now my books And all their mysteries [The Highwayman](http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=120727) (basically Alfred Noyes’ poem set to music): … He turned, he spurred to the west he did not know she stood bowed with her head o’er musket drenched with her own red blood And also, by Pink Floyd: [High Hopes](http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=2910) … There was a ragged band that followed in our footsteps Running before time took our dreams away ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-sad-songs-with-lyrics/355629/64 "2006-05-08T15:39:57Z")
[QUOTE=Jodi] Emmylou Harris, from _Red Dirt Girl_: [/QUOTE] And **Bang the Drum Slowly** about the narrator and her dad: Gone now is the day and gone the sun There is peace tonight all over Arlington And **My Antonia** , with Dave Matthews (kind of maudlin): I can still hear him, he calls to me only What once was begotten shall come to no end ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-sad-songs-with-lyrics/355629/65 "2006-05-08T15:54:40Z")
**Hallelujah** - By numerous artists (my personal favorite version is the one by Jeff Buckley: Well I heard there was a secret chord that David played and it pleased the Lord But you don’t really care for music, do ya? ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2006, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-sad-songs-with-lyrics/355629/66 "2006-05-20T03:58:08Z")
Can’t believe I didn’t think of it when this thread was fresh, but it came up today on my iPod–the very ultimate in ‘sad songs,’ I think, has to be “In the Year 2525”, by Zager & Evans. _Now it’s been 10,000 years Man has cried a billion tears_ ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2006, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-sad-songs-with-lyrics/355629/67 "2006-05-20T04:51:44Z")
The first song that made me cry was “Seasons in the Sun” by Terry Jacks (I was young): Goodbye to you, my trusted friend. We’ve known each other since we’re nine or ten. Together we climbed hills or trees. Learned of love and ABC’s, skinned our hearts and skinned our knees. The last song that made me cry was “Hurt” as sung by Johnny Cash: I hurt myself today to see if I still feel I focus on the pain the only thing that’s real ---
**Author:** ![DaddyTimesTwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@DaddyTimesTwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaddyTimesTwo)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2006, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-sad-songs-with-lyrics/355629/68 "2006-05-20T06:24:25Z")
Blue Traveler’s _“Alone”_ > [@](#): > > I said “i love you” > She began to cry > She said she needed a friend > I said “i’ll try” > Soon we’d say nothing > Somehow i never wondered why > > \ > > But when i think of what i missed it starts all again This song has a certain significance as I listened to it a lot when I got dumped long ago by my now-wife. It’s weird to listen to this song now and remember how I weeped while listening to it all those years ago. You know, cause all that emotion is gone. But it’s still a sad song, the guy feels rotten cause he’s, ah, alon, and because he feels like he didn’t do enough, and that he did too much. So, yeah, I was a weepy mess. ---
**Author:** ![blueserge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@blueserge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blueserge)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2006, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-sad-songs-with-lyrics/355629/69 "2006-05-20T12:36:02Z")
Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris may seem unlikely collaborators, but their new duet album, _All The Roadrunning_ is extraordinary. Heard out of context this song appears to be a simple lover’s lament, but once you know it’s about 9/11, it’s wrenching, and immutably sad. \ ***If This Is Goodbye** My famous last words Are laying around in tatters Sounding absurd\* ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2006, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-sad-songs-with-lyrics/355629/70 "2006-05-20T12:48:38Z")
The Grave, Don McLean: > [@](#): > > … > And the rain fell like pearls on the leaves of the flowers > Leaving brown, muddy clay where the earth had been dry… Vincent (Starry Starry Night), Don McLean: > [@](#): > > … > Now I understand what you tried to say to me, > How you suffered for your sanity, > How you tried to set them free. > … So Sister, The Verve > [@](#): > > … > I wrote your name in dust on a truck > As it rolled out of town > Just in case my love for you might be found… Isolation, Joy Division: > [@](#): > > … > In fear every day, every evening > He calls her aloud from above > Carefully watched for a reason > Painstaking devotion and love ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2006, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-sad-songs-with-lyrics/355629/71 "2006-05-20T14:27:58Z")
[QUOTE=winterhawk11] I thought of another couple, both by Loreena McKennitt: (basically Alfred Noyes’ poem set to music): … He turned, he spurred to the west he did not know she stood bowed with her head o’er musket drenched with her own red blood … [/QUOTE] Check out the ancient Phil Ochs version of this song. It’s just him and a guitar but the melody is simpler (and better, IMO) and his delivery is so urgent that you can hear the hoofbeats. Most. Haunting. Song. Ever. ---
**Author:** ![rayh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@rayh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayh)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2006, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-sad-songs-with-lyrics/355629/72 "2006-05-20T16:04:45Z")
[QUOTE=yoyodyne] The first song that made me cry was “Seasons in the Sun” by Terry Jacks (I was young): [/QUOTE] Check [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7407893&postcount=14) for more information about “Seasons in the Sun.” [Christmas 1914](http://www.mikeharding.co.uk/books/other/bombers/xmas1914/xmas1914.html) by Mike Harding. > [@](#): > > For four days after no one fired, > Not one shot disturbed the night, > For old Fritz and Tommy Atkins > Both had lost the will to fight.. King Cotton by Mike Harding > [@](#): > > See how the lint flies out over the Moorland, > See how the smoke to the valley clings, > See how the slate roofs shine in the drizzle, > This is the valley where cotton is king. [Turn of the Century](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/y/yes/turn+of+the+century_20148371.html) by Yes. > [@](#): > > In the deep cold of night > Winter calls, he cries dont deny me! > For his lady, deep her illness. [Don’t Cry](http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/seal/dontcry.html) by Seal > [@](#): > > Today I dreamed, > Of friends I had before. > And I wonder why. > The ones who care don’t call anymore. Where Are They Now by Al Stewart > [@](#): > > Perhaps there are some passions that are tempered by the years, > We reach accommodation, the intensity recedes. > Where are they now? ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2006, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-sad-songs-with-lyrics/355629/73 "2006-05-21T12:27:51Z")
::: Moderator pounds gavel for attention::: OK, first, my apologies that no moderator saw this thread sooner. But, better late than never. Now: as some of you have noted, we do not permit quoting full song lyrics on these boards. It’s usually a potential copyright violation, and we don’t want to get into hassels. For details on the rules, see [Forum Rules: PLEASE READ](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=343601) and note Post #2. The appropriate way to provide song lyrics is to post a line or two and then provide a link to a website that has full lyrics (and presumably has the rights to do so.) I have therefore gone through the thread, deleting anything that looked too long. I apologize if some of you did, indeed, quote only a snippet. There were many (MANY) posts that quoted what looked too long to me, so I clipped out all but the first two lines (or first complete thought.) I did NOT try to edit for the most meaningful lines. I did NOT try to look up the song to see whether you really quoted an appropriate amount. If you think I have wrongfully chopped down an appropriate length, or if you want to provide a link, or if you want me to further edit your post in any way, please email me and I’ll get to it as soon as I can. Be specific, I cannot restore deleted lines with an “undelete” so you’ll have to email me with the link, the lines to put back, etc. and I will do my best. ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2006, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-sad-songs-with-lyrics/355629/74 "2006-05-21T13:58:17Z")
OK, so continuing on, I suggest: “Honey”, by Bobby Goldsboro. Tear jerking, tear your shirt off and claw your breast, fall down and just cry, pure SYRUP lyrics. (closely followed by is “In The Autum of My Life”) If you don’t contemplate suicide after listening to this, you are definitely not subject to depression or bi-polar disorder. I can’t recall this title, but if I could, it would be the five star winner: lyrics that I can remember: “Bobby, I’ve never had to die before, Don’t know if I can do it, But if you lean on me, Baby, we’ll get through it…” Anyone recognize this? ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2006, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-sad-songs-with-lyrics/355629/75 "2006-05-21T14:06:24Z")
[QUOTE=LiveOnAPlane] OK, so continuing on, I suggest: “Honey”, by Bobby Goldsboro. Tear jerking, tear your shirt off and claw your breast, fall down and just cry, pure SYRUP lyrics. (closely followed by is “In The Autum of My Life”) If you don’t contemplate suicide after listening to this, you are definitely not subject to depression or bi-polar disorder. I can’t recall this title, but if I could, it would be the five star winner: lyrics that I can remember: “Bobby, I’ve never had to die before, Don’t know if I can do it, But if you lean on me, Baby, we’ll get through it…” Anyone recognize this? [/QUOTE] I think it was “Rocky I’ve never had to die before…” and the song was simply called “Rocky” ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2006, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-sad-songs-with-lyrics/355629/76 "2006-05-21T21:59:49Z")
Yes, that sounds like it, **Khadaji**. I should of included a disclaimer that those lyrics were as best as I could remember. But that sounds like you nailed it. ---
**Author:** ![swissmtndog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@swissmtndog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swissmtndog)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2006, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-sad-songs-with-lyrics/355629/77 "2006-05-21T23:02:48Z")
Plenty of great input here. I’ll add one for the ‘end of a long relationship’ theme: Latter Days by Over the Rhine What a beautiful piece of heartache, this has all turned out to be. Lord knows we’ve learned the hard way, all about healthy apathy. ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2006, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-sad-songs-with-lyrics/355629/78 "2006-05-21T23:40:59Z")
[Where’ve you been?"](http://www.lyricsondemand.com/k/kathymattealyrics/wherehaveyoubeenlyrics.html) sung by Kathy Mattea. About a long-married couple in a nursing home: _They’d never spent a night apart For 60 yrs she heard him snore Now they’re in a hospital In seperate beds on different floors_ Very, _very_ sad. I first heard this song on some round-table style country music show with several female artists sitting around singing songs. Mattea had not even recorded the song yet – she was working on the album that it would be on. She explained that she had written the song about two relatives of her husband’s. She sang it and her voice broke on the last chorus. She said something like, “I have to keep practicing this one – I can’t seem to get through it without crying!” Then the camera panned back and you could see that every other woman on the panel was also crying. And, sitting at home, _I_ was crying like a lunatic, too! Another sad one – [“He Would Be Sixteen”](http://www.luma-electronic.cz/lp/w/Wright/wright_now.htm) sung by Michelle Wright (scroll down to the fifth song). About a woman thinking about the son she gave up for adoption: _He would be sixteen she never even got to hold him And nights like this hurts to miss the son she’s never seen He would be sixteen he would be sixteen_ Finally, one that always makes me cry because it came out during one of my husband’s deployments, when I was, well, missing him… It reminds me of that deployment (and all of his other deployments) – [This is Me Missing You](http://www.coquet-shack.com/country_lyrics_HI/House/This_Is_Me_Missing_You_1880.php) by James House. Here’s a link to the [video](http://www.singingfool.com/player.asp?publishedid=00489527), which always makes me cry – especially the very end, where it cuts over to actual footage of soldiers returning to their families. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-sad-songs-with-lyrics/355629/79 "2006-05-22T03:23:05Z")
[Don’t Speak by No Doubt](http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/nodoubt/dontspeak.html) and [Your House by Alanis Morissette](http://www.lyricsandsongs.com/song/148.html). ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-sad-songs-with-lyrics/355629/80 "2006-05-22T03:56:33Z")
Wall of Voodoo singer Andy Prieboy’s _Tomorrow Wendy_ best known version by Concrete Blonde: It is complete now - two ends of time Are neatly tied A one-way street, she’s walking to the End of the line And there she meets the faces she sees in Her heart and mind They say -Goodbye- tomorrow, Wendy’s, Going to die [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-sad-songs-with-lyrics/355629.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-sad-songs-with-lyrics/355629.md?page=5)